Stories of Animals with Spiritual Awareness

Introduction:

The previous letter
– “Birds of Heaven”
– cited a prophecy
regarding the
harmony among all
creatures in the
messianic age. The
prophecy concludes
with the following
verse which reveals
the cause of this
universal harmony:

“They will neither
injure nor destroy
in all of My sacred
mountain; for the
earth will be filled
with knowledge of
Hashem as water
covering the sea
bed.” (Isaiah
11:6-9)

“Knowledge of Hashem”– The
spreading of the
knowledge of Hashem
will affect even the
animals that now
prey on one another;
thus, their nature
will be elevated,
and they will no
longer be violent.
(Commentary of
Malbim)

The above prophecy
reveals that even
the animals will
have a spiritual
awareness that will
elevate their
nature. This week, I
will begin to share
with you some
stories about
animals in the Land
of Israel that
developed an
elevating spiritual
awareness which is
known as,
“chassidus” –
a term which I shall
explain in this
letter:

Dear Friends,

Long before the Chassidic
movement began in
the 18th century,
the term “chassid”
was used to describe
someone who lovingly
serves the Creator
and all creation. In
fact, Aharon, the
Kohen, was described
as a chassid
(Deuteronomy.
33:8).The chassid
serves with a higher
spiritual
awareness known as
“chassidus”
–
loving devotion.
This loving devotion
leads the chassid to
do even more than
what is required by
Torah law. According
to the great sage,
Hillel, one needs
the wisdom of the
Torah, the Divine
Teaching, in order
to become a chassid
(Pireki Avos, 2:5).
In the following
teaching, our sages
reveal that animals
belonging to
chassidim can also
develop the quality
of chassidus:

”Just as the early
tzadikim (righteous
people) were
chassidim, so too,
their animals were
chassidim.” (Avos
D'Rabbi Noson, end
of chapter 8)

The sages then cite
the following
example:

“The camels of
Avraham, our father,
did not enter a
house in which there
was idol worship”
(ibid).

Before we can
understand the
chassidus of
Avraham’s camels, we
first need to
understand the
chassidus of
Avraham. It is
well-known that
Avraham helped many
people in his
generation to
rediscover the One
Creator of the
universe. Through
stressing the One
Source of all
creation, Avraham
helped them to
rediscover the unity
of creation. Avraham
therefore opposed
the idolatry of his
era, for he was
aware
that the deification
of any fragment of
creation
–
an aspect of nature,
a human being, a
nation, or humanity
itself
–
can cause human
beings to lose their
consciousness of the
unity and common
origin of all
creation. Rabbi
Abraham Yaffen, a
noted teacher of
Jewish ethics in the
early 20th century,
elaborates on this
idea in an essay
that he wrote about
our father, Avraham,
and his love for
humanity:

“It
is precisely he
(Avraham), who
dedicated his life
to acts of
loving-kindness, who
was also the great
zealot who dedicated
his life to the
negation of idolatry
in his generation.
The reason for this
can be understood:
Idolatry is based on
the assumption that
the various forces
within the world are
separate one from
the other;
therefore, each
human being is also
considered to be
separate from his
neighbor.”
(Mishel Avos - An
anthology of
Commentary on Pirkei
Avos, p. 144)

Rabbi Yaffen adds
that when Avraham
would see the people
of his generation
fighting with each
other, and how each
would offer
sacrifices to his
own god in order to
try to gain support
in his struggle
against his
neighbor, Avraham
would teach them
that, on the
contrary, “each
should help his
neighbor, for one
God created them and
desires the honor of
all of them.”
Avraham therefore
helped people to
achieve a higher
spiritual awareness
which made them
aware of the unity
of all creation.

In their own way,
the animals under
Avraham’s care
developed this
higher spiritual
awareness. Our sages
find a source for
this tradition in
the story of how
Avraham’s servant,
Eliezer, traveled
from the Promised
Land
to Avraham’s
relatives in Charan,
in order to bring
back a wife for
Avraham’s son, Isaac.
(To some degree,
most of Avraham’s
relatives were still
involved with
idolatry.) When
Eliezer arrived,
Laban, a relative of
Avraham, went to
greet him, and he
said to Eliezer:

“Come,
O blessed of Hashem!
Why should you stand
outside when I have
cleared the house
and place for the
camels?”
(Genesis 24:31)

According to
the
teaching of the
sages in Avos
D’Rabbi Nosson
(ibid), the above
words of Laban have
a deeper meaning,
and they are
conveying the
following message:

“I have cleared the
house”
– I have cleared the
house of idols so
you may feel free to
enter.

“Place
for the camels”
– Avraham’s camels
would not enter a
place containing
idolatry, so Laban
informed him that he
also cleared the
place for the camels
from idolatry.

Avos D’Rabbi
Nosson then cites
another story which
took place in the
Land of Israel at
the end of the
Second Temple
period:

Once the donkey of
Rabbi Chaninah ben
Dosa was stolen. The
robbers tied it up
in a yard and left
it straw, barley,
and water, but it
would not eat or
drink. (The
righteous donkey did
not want to benefit
from anything which
was stolen.)
The robbers said,
“Why
should we let it die
and befoul our yard?”
So they got up and
opened the gate and
let it out. The
donkey walked along
braying until it
reached the home of
Rabbi Chaninah ben
Dosa. When it
arrived, the rabbi’s
son heard its voice
and said to his
father,
“That
sounds like our
animal.”
The rabbi said,
“Open
the door, my son,
for it has nearly
died of hunger.”
(The rabbi
knew that
his donkey
had not eaten the
food of the robbers
due to its higher
spiritual
awareness.)
Immediately, the lad
opened the door and
placed before it
straw, barley, and
water, which the
donkey ate and
drank.

The Talmud (Chullin
7a and 7b) tells the
following story
which took place in
the Land of Israel:
Rabbi Pinchas ben
Ya’ir came to a
certain inn. They
placed barley before
the donkey, but it
would not eat. The
barley was sifted,
but it would not
eat. The barley was
carefully picked,
but it would not
eat. Rabbi Pinchas
ben Ya'ir said to
them:
“Perhaps
it had not been
tithed?” They
removed a tithe and
it ate. Rabbi
Pinchas ben Ya'ir
thereupon exclaimed:
“This
poor creature goes
forth to do the will
of its Creator, and
you would feed it
untithed produce?”

A reference to the
above story appears
in a poetic elegy
which we chant
during the Fast of
Tisha B’Av, when we
mourn over the loss
of the Temple and
the resulting exile
from the Land of
Israel. During the
morning of Tisha
B’Av, it is
customary to chant a
series of “kinos”
(elegies) which
express our yearning
for the Land of
Israel, Jerusalem,
and the Temple. In
Kinah 37, we recall
how the Land of
Israel had animals
and birds that had
the potential to
become spiritually
wise like the donkey
of Rabbi Pinchas ben
Yair. The “Kol
B’Ramah” commentary
on this elegy
explains that this
was because the air
of the Land of
Israel has a
spiritual quality
which enabled
birds and animals to
become wise like the
donkey of Rabbi
Pinchas ben Yair.

The animals in the
above stories
achieved the higher
spiritual awareness
of chassidus for the
following two
reasons:

They
belonged to
chassidim, and they
were influenced by
the enlightening air
of the Land of
Israel.

Shalom,
Yosef Ben Shlomo
Hakohen
(See below)

Related Teachings:

1. The Talmud states
in the name of Rabbi
Zeira: “The air of
the Land of Israel
makes one wise.”
(Baba Basra: 158b)

2. The animals in
the above stories
were influenced by
the behavior of
their righteous
caretakers who were
great chassidim. The
higher consciousness
achieved by these
animals should
inspire us to
develop our own
unique spiritual
potential as human
beings who are
created in the
Divine image. One of
the ways in which we
can develop this
potential is to
choose spiritual
role models who are
“living” the Torah –
the Divine Teaching.
As Maimonides
writes:

“It is natural for a
human being's
thoughts and actions
to be patterned
after those of his
friends and
neighbors and for
him to conduct
himself in the way
of his society. A
person must
therefore attach
himself to the
righteous and always
sit among the sages
so that he will
learn from their
ways.” (Mishneh
Torah, Hilchos De'os
6:1)

“The air of the Land
of Israel makes one
wise; thus, it would
also be beneficial
to live among the
righteous and sages
in our sacred Land.